Title

Symmetric telepresence using robotic humanoid surrogates

Authors

Authors

A. Nagendran; A. Steed; B. Kelly;Y. Pan

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Comput. Animat. Virtual Worlds

Keywords

3D telepresence; telepresence robots; symmetric telepresence; robotic; surrogates; remote robot control; Computer Science, Software Engineering

Abstract

Telepresence involves the use of virtual reality technology to facilitate apparent physical participation in distant events, including potentially performing tasks, while creating a sense of being in that location. Traditionally, such systems are asymmetric in nature where only one side (participant) is teleported to the remote location. In this manuscript, the authors explore the possibility of symmetric three-dimensional telepresence where both sides (participants) are teleported simultaneously to each other's location; the overarching concept of symmetric telepresence in virtual environments is extended to telepresence robots in physical environments. Two identical physical humanoid robots located in UK and the USA serve as surrogates while performing a transcontinental shared collaborative task. The actions of these surrogate robots are driven by capturing the intent of the participants controlling them in either location. Participants could communicate verbally but could not see the other person or the remote location while performing the task. The effectiveness of gesturing along with other observations during this preliminary experiment is presented. Results reveal that the symmetric robotic telepresence allowed participants to use and understand gestures in cases where they would otherwise have to describe their actions verbally. Copyright (c) 2015John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal Title

Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds

Volume

26

Issue/Number

3-4

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

271

Last Page

280

WOS Identifier

WOS:000354264700009

ISSN

1546-4261

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